Section: Party Manifesto
What the main party manifestos say about housing
Posted 16.04.15
With the general election just a few weeks away, we have looked at the main players manifesto promises on housing and summarised some of the key points below.
Conservatives
- Keep mortgage rates lower.
- Build more homes that people can afford, including 200,000 Starter Homes exclusively for first-time buyers under 40.
- Extend the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme to the year 2020 and introduce a new Help to Buy ISA.
- Extend the Right to Buy to tenants of housing associations.
- Ensure brownfield land is used as much as possible for new development.
- Ensure local people have more control over planning.
Labour
- Create a £5 billion 'Future Homes Fund' to build homes that local people need and make sure first-time buyers are first in line.
- Get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020.
- Introduce new 'use it or lose it' powers for local authorities so that no developer can sit on land without building on it.
- Introduce a ceiling on excessive rent rises and make stable three-year tenancies the rule, not the exception.
- Ban rip-off letting fees.
- Create a national register of private landlords to drive up standards and drive out rogue landlords.
Liberal Democrats
- Build 300,000 new homes a year, including 10 new garden cities where homes are needed most.
- Cut Council Tax by £100 for 10 years for people who insulate their home.
- Ban landlords from letting homes that tenants cannot reasonably afford to heat.
